Since budapest-clubadvisor.com got its start, extraordinary changes have take place in the Budapest nightlife in a positive direction, we believe! We make no secret of the fact that it is our mission of sorts to fight against all the phenomena that reduces the quality and renown of Budapest nightlife, and contribute a little bit to cleaning up nightlife in Budapest.
Over the years we have written many times to warn everyone, that the Budapest nightlife is not free of situations created to target tourists and make a living from them, as in the case of taxi drivers and receptionists who work together to rip them off. We can state that thanks to us and the internet in general, the number of clubs taking people to the cleaners had dropped, and in now most of Budapest bars can be found that are totally reliable, stable and provide transparent service.
The number of corrupt bar owners, taxi drivers and restaurateurs has been on the wane for some time, and now can only be found occasionally. We must also mention another positive trend, if we are talking about cleaning up the Budapest nightlife, and that's the disappearance of industrial scale cheating of tourists by girls in the city centre, as if a malignant tumour had been excised from the body of the Hungarian capital. This leads on to a favourable prognosis for the future, especially in light of the drastically changed attitude of the authorities, which we have been looking forward to so much for years now. It staggers the mind that for years those in power looked the other way as young girls served as bait, made the acquaintance of male tourists, and led them to restaurants where they would eventually be served with a bill to the tune of several thousand euro. Thousands, even tens of thousands, of tourists were swindled in this way. Believe it or not, dear reader, they carried on with these shenanigans for 20 years, dragging the good name of Budapest and Hungary through the mud. After all, whoever was bamboozled in this way would naturally go home and spread the word to all of his friends quite rightly, I might add about what an awful place Budapest was, and how it should be avoided whenever possible. Perhaps this was the most harmful to us in the past two decades, but that's all over now. The places doing business this way have been shut down, and quite a few police officers taken off the streets, the enablers of these crimes. Soon we will be able to announce with pride, that the Budapest nightlife has become as safe, tourist-centred, and friendly as that of any Western European city, and no one has to be leery any more.
Aside from a few exceptions.
The situation is not all roses yet. There are still one or two bars that simply have not been able to stop their small-minded attitude, and they still overcharge, and abuse their unfortunate guests. But there are not many, and we hope we will soon be rid of even these few. Those who take a little time to read into the matter will sort out the bad apples in a minute and choose the best services for themselves. Compared to the situation even just a 3 years ago, it's an all ne Budapest nightlife; one thing you still must never do, though, is ask for advice from a taxi driver, because with apologies to the rare exception, in Budapest the taxi drivers all play dirty.
If you want fast, useful and reliable advice about the issues above, and about which places are worth a visit and which are to be avoided, read the comments on the various bars, and have a look at our blacklist page.
Tons of posts have already appeared on our page dealing with the Budapest nightlife in one way or another. Most of the posts naturally most of the older ones were negative in their depictions of the nightlife Budapest had to offer. Budapest-clubadvisor.com has provided independent information for its readers about the comments and experiences of tourists visiting Budapest from abroad. Tendencies in these reported experiences reflect changes occurring in the kind of nightlife Budapest can provide. If we examine the comments of tourists along a timeline, we can see that the Budapest nightlife has changed somewhat recently and with the most positive indications. Recent events have acted as a catalyst in the cleaning up of the Budapest nightlife. Huge changes have taken place in the inner city in Budapest; the decrepit places had shut down, and the bars that made a living out of ripping tourists off has also closed, so there is really nothing more to fear for the innocent tourist walking in the Hungarian capital. In the past perhaps forty girls would swarm the city, all employees of that sort of bar, seeking to get to know a few unsuspecting foreign men and get themselves picked up, and then ordered drinks usually totalling more than 2000 euro in price. Well that is all over now. Budapest nightlife has truly begun to clear up, but has not yet reached completion. The thing that is worth looking out for is an agreement between taxi drivers and certain nightclubs. There are still clubs that work with taxi drivers, causing serious problems for the sort of safe, honest nightlife Budapest now has to offer and dupe unsuspecting tourists. We couldn't and can't stress enough, that anyone wanting to visit the best Budapest strip bars, nightclubs should never make the ride by taxi. Taxi drivers receive head money for taking their passengers to questionable establishments, where they are of course cheated. We recommend you choose a destination based on the recommendations and experiences of other tourists, and then you can be sure to avoid this fate. It is not hard to get acquainted with the facts and choose a suitable nightclub with high standards based on the comments appearing on this page; it's just a few minutes to peruse the whole thing.
